Written by: Steven N. Adjei, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Do you feel like you are carrying too much stuff? It’s time to make the hard call – It’s time to drop your baggage.
Gave up on feeling balanced
But dammit, that’s my Baggage
That’s my Baggage
This stuff gets hard to manage
I’m carrying a casket
There’s no other way…
I’m broken bruised and damaged
That’s my heavy, heavy baggage…
Singer-Songwriter Bishop Briggs, Baggage, May 2023
In my young days in the nineties in my native Ghana, West Africa, I spent a year working as a teacher during our mandatory National Service in a little poor village called Pankese, in the eastern part of the country.
One day, after a session in the dilapidated makeshift classroom, I looked up and saw hundreds of farmers on their way back home from a tough farming day.
It was a Tuesday.
Tuesday and Wednesday were marketing days in that little village and that’s when the locals went to the market with their farm produce.
I saw this woman with a huge basket of produce on her head, her baby strapped on her back as well as carrying a couple of farm tools at the same time. She was led by a man I presumed to be her husband, who was strolling in front of her with just a cutlass in his hand.
Being raised in the capital city, Accra, I could not understand why any man would do this. How could he let his wife carry all this heavy stuff whilst he just jovially strolled along in front of her carrying practically nothing?
That scene stuck in my mind because come two decades later, as I sit by the water writing this piece, that image came back to me, as well as this picture I dug from my archives taking my friend and professional photographer, Edward Odonkor.
It came to my mind again, when I had my first session with my coach, Dan. After an intense first session, I realised how much baggage I was carrying: unrealistic expectations, guilt about my own mistakes, resentment towards people that had duped, hurt, and taken me for granted in the past, and the poor decisions I had made.
I was not unlike that woman who was carrying all that stuff whilst the people that had wronged me were like her husband, free chilling and getting on with their lives.
But that wasn’t the worst bit.
But in carrying all that baggage, I had dropped my load.
What’s my load (or my luggage), I hear you ask?
Whenever I am leaving my home, I have my faithful backpack. It contains all my essentials – my laptop, journal, lunch, and essentials I couldn’t do without.
In the same metaphorical way, my load was my responsibility to my family, my staff, and myself. In carrying all that baggage, I was dropping my load.
We all have our loads, our backpacks we need to carry.
If you’re a parent with small children, you’ll understand. Going anywhere without your supplies of nappies, baby wipes, change of clothes, etc for your kiddies is poo-nami suicide. That’s your load.
So is a CEO who doesn’t carry her luggage – strategy for her company, looking after her staff, her family and perhaps more importantly, herself because she’s so worried about her baggage – unrealistic expectations, unresolved pain, her public image, the pain the unfair situations she’s had to endure, and the unwarranted criticism of others.
There's a reason most airlines charge extra for extra baggage.
Your baggage is everything you’re carrying which is not yours to carry.
Your luggage is everything you’re carrying that you’re meant to carry.
The trouble is your back isn’t strong enough to carry both for extended periods. Eventually, you'd have to pay the price. It will cost you extra – mental health, stress, and much more besides.
In my case, I had to make a list with my coach. Which of what I was carrying was baggage, and which was my load?
It was a painful list. But once it was on paper, it became clear.
The baggage had to go. And my load had to be borne.
It’s a tough work in progress. But if ever I am to reach my goals, I need to decide every day, to drop my baggage, and carry my load.
How about you? What baggage are you carrying in addition to your load?
Sooner or later, you’d have to drop one.
I hope, like me, you decide, through choice, to drop the former.
I’m rooting for you,
Steven
The share:
I have just gone live as a mentor – joining the amazing group of Enterprise Nation – mentors supporting the Government’s “Help to Grow” campaign.
I am rebranding!! Due to the exceptional demand created by my book Pay the Price, I am looking to be doing more speaking, writing, and consulting for small businesses. My new website will soon be ready, and I can’t wait to show it off! Contact me here if you need any further information.
As a mentor, I will be working with businesspeople on the 12 weeks Help to Grow: Management Course. The course (currently partly funded by the government) is for U.K. businesses that have been operating for at least a year and employ between 5 to 249 people. Please email me here or find me on the Association of Business Mentors if you would like some more information.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!
Steven N. Adjei, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Steven N. Adjei is an award-winning British-Ghanaian best-selling author, poet, speaker, healthcare consultant, entrepreneur, and pharmacist. He is the founding partner of BlueCloud Health (part of the Emerald Group), an advisory and consulting firm with offices in London, Dubai, and Delhi with clients all over the world. He has an MBA from Warwick Business School.
His first book, (Pay The Price: Creating Ethical Entrepreneurial Success Through Passion, Pain and Purpose) released on 17 October 2022 was an instant international bestseller in 18 categories on Amazon, has garnered 2 prestigious awards, and has received critical acclaim throughout the world. He is currently working on his second book, “Chasing Permanence: thriving you and your business in a constantly changing world” , set to be released in early 2024.
